On Wednesday 20 July 2010, amidst the excitement created at Paragon Base for the Cadet Band, Sea cadet Unit and Star 1,2 and 3 Cadets, the Star 4 Cadets departed camp at 1915 to move to HMBS PELICAN Base, the starting point of their Star 4 adventure.

Parents and guardians witness the departure of the Star 4 Cadets on board HMBS RUDYARD LEWIS.

Cadet HQ staff, parents and cadets gathered alongside HMBS Rudyard Lewis which was gearing up to transport these cadets on their mission to Grenada

Finally the moment came and HMBS RUDYARD LEWIS slipped at 2200 hours in the quiet of the night. Parents and Cadet HQ staff waved back to cadets standing proudly on board bedecked in their uniforms and life vests. Continue reading →

Summer Camps 2010 commenced on 1 Jul 10 with the staging of a camp for Senior and Junior NCOs at Paragon Base. Seven officers, 6 BDF staff instructors and support personnel and eighty nine Cadets attended this phase of camp.

The main focus of the Senior and Junior NCO Courses is to provide cadets with an opportunity to understand the role of instructors and get practice in instructional techniques. It also provided additional practice for those star 4 cadets who will be travelling to Grenada shortly.

The Camp Commandant, Captain Errol Braithwaite, reported that Coordinating meetings were held during camp with camp staff and that as a result, many improvements were made during the actual period of the camp. He summarized the phase as having been very successful.

This phase of camp ended on Sun 4 Jul 10 with a brief Closing Ceremony where participants were presented with certificates for performance on the course. This represents a very positive start to 2010 Summer camps and augers well for the Junior Cadets who enter camp on 6 Jul 10 and for the camp main phase that follows them.

Indeed, reports are that Junior Cadet Camp is oversubscribed with more cadets registered than can be accommodated at the campsite.

The Cadet Shooting program has scored another first. SSgt Chanelle Jackman of Queens College has been selected to represent Barbados in the Central American and Caribbean Games which will be held in Puerto Rico from July 18 to 28, 2010. These games are held under the aegis of the Barbados Olympic Association and are a qualifier for the Commonwealth Games being held in India in October 2010.

SSgt Jackman was also among the first two cadets to represent Barbados in the 10m Air Rifle when she participated in the Junior Commonwealth Games held in Pune India in 2008. Both Barbadian cadets reached the finals in that competition. Continue reading →

Normally, as we approach the end of the third school term, cadet activities are scaled back to allow students to concentrate on their academic exams. Two reasons likely explain the large numbers of Junior Cadets that continue to attend training at Harrison College on Saturday mornings.

1 – These juniors are not yet into the external exam phase of their school lives

2 – The parents are probably more than happy to get them out of the house on Saturday mornings.

In any event the juniors seem to really enjoy the activities put on. Of particular interest appears to be the BAD contests where officers and NCOs actively encourage and assist these young cadets to be BAD.

There is an inter platoon contest as well as an individual BAD competition to find the top BAD male and female cadet. When the dust cleared on Saturday June 4, two male cadets were left standing in the search for the BAD cadet of the day.

This however is not a new trend in the Cadet Corps, over the years almost every cadet have wanted to be BAD. Indeed many former cadets now brag about being BAD in their heyday. The main difference now is that these Junior Cadets will be able to say in future, that he or she was THE BAD cadet on a particular date – since on that day they would have been adjudged to have been BEST AT DRILL, …and they will have the trophy to prove it.